


I like that you’re broken (broken like me)

by Littlebit_ofeverything



Series: Snapshots after season one [1]
Category: Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous (Cartoon)
Genre: Also Yaz’s ankle is healed, Angst, Because I can, Character Study, Cliffhangers, Dialogue Heavy, Enjoy!, Everyone pines, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Happy Endings For Everyone, I decided that Ben likes salads, I gave Yaz a backstory, Its the last chapter, I’m baaaaack, Kenji and Yaz being chaotic, Kenji found a flare gun, M/M, Mild Language, Mini golf bonding, Not sure what happened with bumpy, Self-Worth Issues, So that’s fun, There is a kiss, There is more relationship material in this, There’s actual angst in this chapter, They still haven’t found Ben yet, This is set like right after season one, and Yaz gets friendzoned, and because we know the least about her, and he want everyone to know, and that’s canon now, and very gay, at least I think it’s a cliffhanger, because I said so, because he’s chaotic enough for the both of them, because i like writing them in caves, because lord knows I can’t write action scenes, both friendship and romaticship, but when I say angst I really just mean that there’s arguing, color symbolizing, except bumpy, gay pining, hoo boy it’s been a ride, i was hungry writing this chapter, i wont spoil but..., it’s really just Kenji being chaotic, kenji gives good advice, kenji pines, romanticship is a word now, sorry - Freeform, text message conversations, there is the Brooklyn and Yaz friendship we were robbed of, they found shelter in a cave, they haven’t found Ben BUT, they will soon I promise, to all the teenage boys reading this, with another fic from Yaz’s perspective, yaz is slightly horny, yaz pines, yaz rips on you in a line
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:15:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26899555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Littlebit_ofeverything/pseuds/Littlebit_ofeverything
Summary: There’s so much she wants to say like I’m kind of scared by how strongly I care for you and My heart leaps whenever you hold my hand or hug me and You make me feel stupidly happy, and I like that. Instead she just whispers. “You’re like, my favorite person here.”
Relationships: Darius Bowman/Brooklynn, Kenji Kon/Ben Pincus, Yasmina "Yaz" Fadoula/Sammy Gutierrez
Series: Snapshots after season one [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1962709
Comments: 59
Kudos: 145





	1. And if I get burned, at least we get electrified

**Author's Note:**

> I’m back! I got a lot of really positive feedback on my last fic, and I wanted to thank everyone who left a comment or kudos. It means a lot!

Yaz is honest to god going to kill Kenji. 

They’re running through the forest, and her ankle still hurts like hell, (Sammy told her she should rest, but you can’t really rest when you’re running for your life) and they should be back at the cavern. But  _ no _ , Kenji had to come screaming about how he found a dead dinosaur they can roast and eat. (Which like, ew Kenji. They may be trapped on an island with no way out, but she’s not about to eat a dinosaur.) This alerted a nearby Deinonychus, and now they’re running for their life. 

So yeah, if this Deinonychus doesn’t get him first, she’s totally going to kill Kenji. 

“Up here!” Brooklyn is pointing to a tree that has low hanging branches. “We can climb it.” 

“No!” Darius shouts. “Deinonychus’ can climb trees with their claws.” 

Said dinosaur is catching up to them, and fast. They are so going to die. 

“Okay I have an idea.” Darius says, turning around to face the dinosaur. “We need to get to that tree and climb it.” 

“I thought you said Dein-whatever can climb trees.” Kenji says, and he has a point, even though he’s the one that got them into this mess. 

“I did say that.” Darius acknowledges, and the dinosaur is approaching them, watching them carefully. “When I say go, run straight at the tree and climb it.”

“But what about Yaz?” Sammy asks, and her heart swells at the way Sammy says her name. 

“I can do this.” She says, and puts her full weight on both of her legs to prove her point. It hurts, a lot, but it doesn’t matter right now. 

“Okay,” Darius says quietly. “Ready, set, go!” 

And they’re sprinting towards the tree, and her ankle is on fire, she’s seeing spots, and the Deinonychus is on their heels. They’re climbing the tree, and the pain is almost unbearable. She’s definitely going to murder Kenji. 

“Okay Deinonychus’ can’t fly, so if we draw it up here, and jump to the next tree we should be fine.” Darius turns to jump to the tree next to it. 

“Come on guys. We can make it.” Brooklyn is the next to jump, lands by Darius, holds onto him a little longer than normal. (She knows she’s not the only one who notices, she can see the smirk on Kenji’s face) 

Kenji jumps next, and next it’s Sammy, who almost slips, and then it’s her turn. 

The deinonychus is right behind her, and every step she takes is painful, she can hear them screaming at her to jump. She looks at Sammy, who seems terrified, and she’s not about to die right now. 

She jumps. 

She lands. 

She falls straight into Sammy’s arms. 

(It’s the only place she wants to be in.)

The deinonychus looks at them, studying them, before giving up and climbing down. 

“Haha take that Dein-whatever!” Kenji cheers.

“Come on guys,” Brooklyn says, already climbing down. “Let’s go home.” 

Yaz isn’t sure she’d call this place home, but then she turns to look at Sammy smiling softly at her, and what was she thinking about again? 

She doesn’t remember, but really, when Sammy smiles at her like that, she forgets everything else. 

(You would too, if she smiled at you like that)

  
  
  


They get back to the cavern untouched. Kenji is still animated after their run-in with the dinosaur of the day. “That was awesome! I mean, did you see how close that was? Man, if we ever get out of here, we’re going to be celebrities.” 

Sammy tenses up next to Yaz. “We are getting out of here right?” 

“Of course we are,” Darius says, glaring at Kenji, who raises his arms in surrender. “People are coming back for us. We just have to hold out and survive until they come.” 

“That means no screaming about a dead dinosaur you find, got it Kenji?” Brooklyn interjects. 

Kenji blanches. “I mean, yeah. I guess.”

They’re all silent for a little bit, until Yaz speaks up. “I know at the monorail I said I didn’t consider us friends and all, but like I’ve never really had friends. But you guys are the closest things to friends I’ve ever had.” 

Sammy grins. “I knew you’d come around Yaz.” And suddenly she’s being hugged. Her brain is short circuiting, because Sammy’s hugging her, and she smells like jade and pineapple (which is a weird, but oddly satisfying combination), and  _ Sammy’s hugging her _ . 

She ignores Kenji’s smirk, and Brooklyn’s thumbs up. Like Brooklyn and Darius don’t sneak off in the middle of the night when they think everyone else is asleep, and Kenji didn’t sleep talk that one time about how much he likes Ben. 

Later that night, when everyone else asleep, even Darius and Brooklyn, she rolls on her side to face Sammy. 

There’s so much she wants to say like  _ I’m kind of scared by how strongly I care for you _ and  _ My heart leaps whenever you hold my hand or hug me  _ and  _ You make me feel stupidly happy, and I like that _ . Instead she just whispers. “You’re like, my favorite person here.”

She can see Sammy’s smile in the darkness. “You're my favorite person too Yaz.” 

The words make her insides get all jumbly. If she was braver, maybe she’d lean over and kiss Sammy, or tell her that she really, really likes her. Instead, she whispers goodnight, and lets the sleep wash over her. 

(And if she dreams of Sammy, and lets her mind wander about her, she really can’t be blamed for that, can she?)


	2. Don’t let me forget (your hand in mine)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (She ends up falling asleep in Sammy’s arms, and even though Kenji’s going to make fun of her in the morning, she can’t think of anywhere else she wants to be. She thinks back to Brooklyn calling this place home, and thinks that maybe, just maybe, anywhere Sammy is is home to her.)

Yaz wakes up cold. And alone. (Granted this is a dream, but she doesn’t know it yet.) There’s snow on the ground, which is the first indicator that this is a figment of her imagination since Jurassic Park is located on a tropical island. 

She heads outside the cave, to find blood in the snow, the red bright against the piles of white. The blood is in a line, leading her to whatever is hurt. 

Yaz can see in the distance four people huddled around something lying in the snow. As she gets closer, she can see it’s Kenji, Brooklyn, Darius and Ben. 

Her first thought is _why isn’t Sammy here?_ (Which is a totally normal thought for friends to have) But as she gets closer, she can see that Sammy is the thing they’re circled around. 

“Guys? What’s Sammy doing on the ground?” She asks, but a part of her already knows. 

They all turn to stare at her with lifeless eyes. “She’s dead Yaz.” Darius says. 

“You could have saved her.” Brooklyn says, voice hardening. “This is all your fault.”

“She should be alive.” Kenji tells her. “You should be the one dead instead of her.” 

Yaz chokes back a sob, because they’re right, Sammy should be alive, and she should be the one who bled out. Sammy deserves everything. (Which again, totally normal thought for a friend to have)

Sammy’s body is lifeless, and bloody. She reaches out to touch the girl’s hand, and it’s cold. 

She wakes up with a start, breathing hard, the image of Sammy’s dead body still fresh in her mind. 

“Yaz?” Sammy sounds concerned, and she’s alive and warm, and Yaz hugs her because she needs to see for herself, needs to feel that Sammy is okay and very much alive. “Did you have a nightmare?”

She nods, because Sammy dying is easily the scariest thing she’s thought about in a while. (She ends up falling asleep in Sammy’s arms, and even though Kenji’s going to make fun of her in the morning, she can’t think of anywhere else she wants to be. She thinks back to Brooklyn calling this place home, and thinks that maybe, just maybe, anywhere Sammy is is home to her.)

  
  
  


They start searching for Ben under Kenji’s insistence. Yaz smirks at him, and he rolls his eyes at her, makes a comment about how close she was to Sammy last night. He laughs as her cheeks heat up, and she flips him off. (He’s a dick, but he’s Ben’s dick. Wait no— that doesn’t make any sense. Forget she just said that.)

They’re combing the beaches, and Sammy and Kenji took a break to go swim in the ocean. She’d call Kenji a slacker, but that’d be calling Sammy a slacker, and she doesn’t want to do that. 

There’s a cave by the beach she checks out, and as she comes out, Sammy is getting out of the water. 

There’s water dripping off of Sammy, and the sunlight hits her as she shakes her head, and Yaz has never felt more like a teenage boy than in this moment as her mouth goes dry.

 _Holy shit._ Is her first thought, and then it’s _I’m so gay. I am so gay._

“Yaz?” Brooklyn’s voice cuts through her thoughts. “Can you help me look over here?”

She tears her eyes off of Sammy to look at Brooklyn. “Yeah sure.” (She sneaks another look at Sammy, who smiles at her. It does funny things to her inside which is like, it’s fine. She’s fine. Totally fine and not like horny or anything. Not at all. Not even a little.) 

Brooklyn glances at her as they’re walking in towards a tree with bananas on it. “I know we didn’t start off on the right foot, but you can tell me anything, you know?” 

Yaz opens her mouth, and then closes it, as if to stop the outpouring of emotion (about Sammy) that threatens to come out. “I know.” She says instead. 

Brooklyn looks at her expectantly, as Yaz hoists her up on the tree. “This is the part where you tell me something.” 

“Oh right.” She’s never been any good at this. “I uh. Sammy’s kinda cool.” 

Brooklyn grins at her, and she wants to face palm. _Sammy’s kinda cool? What was that?_ “Sammy is pretty cool.” 

“You know that’s not what I meant.” 

“Then what do you mean?” Brooklyn’s smiling down at her, and she’s going to make Yaz say it. 

“I think that, I have like a very small molecular sized crush on Sammy. Super small.” _If super small meant super big._

“It’s totally normal to have crushes on people.” Brooklyn says, dropping a bunch of bananas into her arms. “It’s also totally normal to have a crush on someone you’re already close with.” 

“Is that why you and Darius are always sneaking off?” She asks innocently. 

Brooklyn goes as pink as her hair, and Yaz laughs as she fails to say anything in return. 

“Guys!” Darius runs up to where they are. “There’s a helicopter! People are coming to save us!”

Brooklyn jumps down from her perch, and the three of them run (well Yaz hobbles, hurt ankle and all) over to where Kenji and Sammy are jumping and waving. 

“Hey! Over here!” Kenji screams. 

“We’re over here!” Sammy yells as she waves her arms over her head. (She has nice arms)

“Helicopter!” Darius shouts. 

For the briefest second the helicopter turns to where they are, and they all cheer. But then it turns away, and heads out into the ocean, away from them. 

Their arms drop to their sides. “Aren’t people looking for us?” Sammy asks, voice trembling. 

“They have to be.” Kenji says, and Yaz has never seen him look so broken. 

“I’m sure there will be more helicopters.” Darius says confidently. “Next time we’ll be louder, and maybe even have a big fire going.”

He turns to all of them. “We’re getting out of here.” 

They start walking back to the cavern, and she glances back at the beach. _Will there even be a next time?_

(But then Sammy takes her hand, and all her worries drain away)

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What’d you think?


	3. Will you have me, will you love me (will you kiss me on the porch in front of all your stupid friends)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (And when Sammy smiles at her, she’s sure she’s melting. She’s so totally gone for this girl it’s not even funny anymore. 
> 
> Kenji would disagree.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter took so long, school had been hectic.

Yaz isn’t really sure they're getting out of here. 

It’s been a week since the beach incident, and Darius and Brooklyn have insisted on staying close to the beach, in case another helicopter comes. None have come back. 

(Kenji insisted they keep looking for Ben, that they need to find him before the dinosaurs do. 

None of them have the heart to tell him that the dinosaurs probably already got him. 

As much as Kenji wants to believe Ben’s still alive, Yaz isn’t sure he is.)

She can tell Kenji is anxious, by the way he constantly paces back and forth while Darius and Brooklyn tend to the fire. 

She knows the tension between Darius and Kenji will boil over eventually, and she hopes it’s soon, because she really can’t stand the icy glares and passive aggressive comments they make towards each other. 

“We need to find Ben.” Kenji says after pacing back and forth anxiously again. 

Darius sighs exasperatedly. “Kenji, we talked about this.”

“No we really didn’t.” Kenji returns, and part of her wants to grab some popcorn and watch the shitshow that is definitely about to happen. “You told us that someone was coming back for us, but for the past week no one has come for us. Face it Darius, we’re on our own.”

Darius gets up from the fire with his ‘time to be a leader’ face that he saves for his inspiring speeches. “Kenji, there are people out there who care about us. And I know they’re coming back for us. I know it.”

“No you don’t!” Kenji explodes. “You don’t know that! No one’s coming for us! Wake up Darius, and stop believing this fantasy that we’re getting a happy ending because this isn’t a goddamn fairy tale!” 

Darius’ face goes hard, and his eyes are angry and dark. “Oh you want to talk about a fantasy? Let’s talk about the idea that Ben is alive is a fantasy. He got snatched by a Pterodactyl and fell from the monorail. He’s as good as dead Kenji!” 

They’re both breathing heavily, staring at each other with venom. Kenji scoffs and turns around. “Whatever. I’m out of here.” 

“Wait! Where are you going?” Brooklyn calls out, even though they all know where he’s going.

He turns back. “To find Ben.” With that he jogs off. 

Sammy gets up and runs after him. “Kenji! Come back!” 

Darius turns to look at her, the question clear in his eyes. It’s supposed to be a choice, a question, but it really isn’t. She’d follow Sammy anywhere.

“Sorry Darius.” It’s all she can muster, before hobbling after Sammy.

  
  
  


It’s hard to look for someone while also trying to hide from dinosaurs. They’ve only encountered one dinosaur so far, and it was a plant eater. 

(Kenji had screamed this high pitched scream, and she could not stop laughing, and Sammy was sure another dinosaur was going to find them. 

Kenji had turned beet red, and made her promise never to bring it up again. It’s a promise she’s totally not going to keep.)

“Ben! Ben, where are you?” Kenji yells.

“Keep it down Kenji. First you scream like a little girl, now you’re hollering at the top of your lungs about your crush. You’re going to attract unneeded attention from the dinosaurs. And not the plant eating kind. The Kenji-eating kind.” She says. 

His grin sharpens, and she wonders if snarking him was a good idea. “First of all, we agreed never to speak of that again. Second of all, who says hollering? And third of all, we all know the only reason you’re here right now is because you love Sammy.” 

Yeah, snarking him was not a good idea.

Sammy just smiles. “Of course she loves me. Best friends love each other. Right Yaz?” 

“Right.” She croaks, trying to not to focus on her heart cracking open at the words best friend. Because Sammy doesn’t like her like that, and they’re just best friends. 

Sammy winks at her, and she thinks _God that’s hot_ before remembering that Sammy just friendzoned her.

Kenji rolls his eyes. “Where have I heard that before?” 

Yaz opens her mouth to respond, but before she can say anything, the ferns to their right begin to rustle. 

(She ignores the smirk Kenji sends her way as she instinctively steps in front of Sammy.)

“This is why we don’t scream in jungles on islands filled with dinosaurs.” She says, as she hobbles backward. 

“Shhh.” Sammy whispers. “Get behind that tree.”

The tree Sammy is talking about is a big tree. The trunk is massive, big enough that they all can fit behind it. It looks like an oak tree, but who knows? Not Yaz, because she isn’t a tree expert. 

The ferns rustle some more, as they hide behind the tree. 

“Okay, if we’re about to die, I just want to say, you guys were moderately cool.” Kenji whispers. 

“Wow thanks. What a compliment. I will treasure that forever.” She whispers sarcastically.

Sammy hushes them once more, as the rustling stops. 

“Holy shit!” Kenji says excitedly. 

“Kenji!” Sammy admonishes. “We’re supposed to be quiet.”

He ignores them, and rushes out from behind the tree. 

“Kenji!” She says, hobbling out from behind the tree expecting to find Kenji eaten by now. She does not expect to see Kenji hugging Ben. 

“Holy shit. Ben!” She hobbles as fast as she can, before hugging Ben too. Sammy’s not far behind. 

“Hi guys.” He says, with a wide smile and flushed cheeks. (Yaz suspects the close proximity to Kenji is probably the reason for that.)

“You’re alive.” Sammy says, in wonder. 

Ben laughs, and then winces. “The Pterodactyls dropped me close to the ground. But I have a couple bruised ribs I think.”

Kenji immediately looks worried. “Are you okay? Do you need anything?”

Ben smiles and shakes his head. “I’m fine. Thank you though.”

Yaz smirks at Kenji, who pretends not to see. 

“Wait, where’s Darius and Brooklyn?” Ben asks. 

Before Kenji can launch into some rant about how disillusioned they are, and Yaz can smirk and say that Kenji was really worried about Ben, Sammy jumps in and simply says, “We went to look for you, and now that we found you, we’re going back to the beach.”

And so, with that they begin to return to the beach. Ben and Kenji are laughing about something as Bumpy trots in front of them. Sammy walks next to her, and their shoulders are brushing. Sammy’s hand is so close, and she kind of just wants to hold it. (She wants to hold her hand for forever)

  
  


They return to the beach by nightfall. 

She’s tired, and she’s been walking for nearly the entire day. She just wants to sleep. 

“Where are they?” Sammy wonders, because Darius and Brooklyn are nowhere to be found. 

Ben points to above a cavern, where the two of them are sitting next to each other facing the ocean. “Up there.”

Kenji turns and grins at them. “I’m gonna go spy on them.” 

It’s a terrible idea, and he will most certainly get caught, but she’s kind of curious about what they’re saying, so she follows him up the cliffs. Curiosity killed the cat as they say. 

“I’m worried about them.” Darius says when they get to their perch behind a rock, fiddling with his shirt. “What if they got eaten?”

“Sike.” Kenji whispers. “We didn’t get eaten.”

She smacks him in the arm. “Shhh.”

“They’ll be ok Darius.” Brooklyn squeezes his shoulder. “They’re all capable of taking care of themselves. I’m sure everything’s fine.”

Darius smiles at her. “Thanks Brook.”

Kenji grins excitedly. “Brook? He has a nickname for her!”

She nods. “Shush, they’re talking again.” 

“Remember when they saved us from sinking into the mud?” Brooklyn says fondly. “I thought for sure we were going to die. In fact, if they hadn’t come, I would’ve done something stupid like kiss you or something.”

She turns to look out at the water, face flushed. 

“You can still do that.” Darius says quietly. 

Kenji whistles softly. “Damn Darius, that was smooth.”

Yaz has to agree with him on that. 

Darius turns to look at the water, as Brooklyn looks back at him with a soft smile on her face. There’s so much yearning right now, she might physically kill them if they don’t confess their feelings soon. 

“She’s totally about to kiss him.” Kenji says. “I’m calling it right now.”

“Shouldn’t we leave then? This is like a private moment. I don’t know if they’d want us to see this.” 

Kenji turns to her, pouting. “Aww c’mon. It’s just getting good.”

“Kenji.” She says warningly. 

He rolls his eyes. “Fiiiiiiiine.”

They start to head down the cliff, but Kenji steps on a stick and breaks it. Darius and Brooklyn turn to look at them, faces flushed. Yaz smiles awkwardly, as if they weren’t just spying on them for like five minutes. 

“What’re you guys doing here?” Darius asks. 

  
  
  
  


Later that night, they’ll all sit down by the fire, and talk about what happened as they roast a fish Darius caught. 

“It was super impressive.” Brooklyn says. “He fell on top of it, and nearly crushed the fish.”

Darius’ face goes red as the rest of them laugh. 

“Well, you know what’s really impressive? How high-pitched Kenji’s scream is.” She says, grinning at Kenji. 

Kenji glares at her. “You promised you’d never talk about it again.”

She shrugs innocently. “I don’t remember that.”

Ben will tell a story about how Bumpy and him came face to face with a Velicoraptor. They all ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ and ‘oh dang’, but Yaz isn’t watching Ben, she’s watching Sammy. 

(And when Sammy smiles at her, she’s sure she’s melting. She’s so totally gone for this girl it’s not even funny anymore. 

Kenji would disagree.)

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Squeezed is kind of a weird word. Is that just me?


	4. A life without you isn’t really life at all

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Out of all the ways to die, she can’t believe she’s going to die of dehydration. 
> 
> (Later, she’ll voice this to Sammy, who smiles at her and says “At least we’ll die together right?”, and honestly she really should not feel this good about dying.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so in episode six or seven I think they end up in this pool that’s actually an enclosure for a big underwater reptile-creature and in this chapter they revisit it. I couldn’t remember what the name of that animal is, so I just made one up.

They run out of water three days after they find Ben. 

Maybe it’s the fact that they have another mouth to feed. Maybe it’s because yesterday was really hot, and they drank more water than they should have. Maybe it’s because Kenji accidentally dropped the last carrot juice, (they were gross but desperate times call for desperate measures you know?) and it squirted out on the ground, and there was only half of it left in the carton. 

But whatever the reason, they run out of water. And that is not good. 

Yaz isn’t a survival expert, and she’s a little surprised that six teenagers have lasted this long stuck on an island full of dinosaurs, but she knows that people can’t survive without water for three to four days. 

Add that to the fact that they only have access to two bodies of water: the ocean which is full of salt water so obviously they can’t drink that, and the enclosure that the Mosasaur lives in. A reptile that almost killed them. 

Add the fact that the enclosure is on the other side of the island, and Yaz’s ankle isn’t faring well mixes together into a recipe for disaster. 

Out of all the ways to die, she can’t believe she’s going to die of dehydration. 

(Later, she’ll voice this to Sammy, who smiles at her and says “At least we’ll die together right?”, and honestly she really should not feel this good about dying.)

  
  
  
  


They begin the trek at noon. Darius, Brooklyn, and Ben are adamant that they at least try to get to the water. 

“We got this far,” Ben says. “We should keep going. I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t want to die of dehydration.” 

Kenji grins proudly and claps Ben on the back. “Look out Darius, because Ben here is coming for your title of inspiring speech dude.” 

Ben winces, and blushes at Kenji’s compliment. Darius turns to look at her and Sammy expectantly. 

She shrugs. “I go wherever Sammy goes.” 

(Kenji coughs _Whipped_ into his hand, while Brooklyn gives her a shit-eating grin. She flips them off, but that just makes their grins go wider.

She regrets ever telling them anything.)

Darius claps his hands together. “It’s settled then. We should leave soon if we want to get to the enclosure by tomorrow night.” 

So now they’re walking to the Mosasaur’s enclosure. Sammy’s hand is firmly clasped in hers, and Kenji will not stop smirking at her. It’s annoying and distracting her from ~~Sammy~~ the hike. Ben is riding on Bumpy, who has significantly grown. 

“Hey Kenji,” Ben calls down to him. “Are you wearing my fanny-pack?” 

Kenji looks down at the fanny-pack that sits on his waist. “Um yes. Do you need it back?” 

Ben shakes his head. “No, you can keep wearing it. It looks better on you.” 

Kenji sputters, face redder than a tomato. She coughs. “Whipped.” 

Kenji glares at her. She’s enjoying this far too much, and she can see why he does this so much. 

Up ahead, Brooklyn and Darius are walking side by side. Their shoulders are brushing, and occasionally one of them will look at the other with a soft smile on their face. 

She nudges Sammy. “Look at the amount of yearning there.” 

“Which one, Darius and Brooklyn or Kenji and Ben?” Sammy asks, to which Kenji responds “Hey!”.

She laughs. “I was talking about Darius and Brooklyn, but now that you mention it…” 

Kenji moves over to them. “There is no yearning going on over here. Kenji Kon does not yearn. Or pine.” 

Sammy’s eyes widen. “Oh Kenji, it’s perfectly normal to long for someone. And it’s perfectly normal to pine after a boy.” 

Kenji covers his face with his hands as Sammy continues. “Because you know, me and Yaz will love you no matter who you like. Unless it’s an animal. Because that’s weird.” 

Yaz has to bite the inside of her mouth to stop a laugh that threatens to bubble out. 

“That’s. That’s not it Sammy.” Kenji says, voice hushed. 

Sammy looks confused. “Then what is it?”

Kenji looks around before speaking. “I don’t like Ben.” 

This time, she does laugh. She laughs so loud, that everyone turns to look at her. “Oh. Sorry, I’ll be quieter.” 

Once Darius and Brooklyn have turned back and continued their conversation, and Ben has continued on with Bumpy, she turns to Kenji. “I hate to break it to you Kenji, but you definitely like Ben. And you are most definitely pining after him.” 

“But don’t worry, because I’m pretty sure he likes you too.” Sammy says. 

Kenji stares at them, slack jawed. Eventually he closes his mouth. “Okay, I’m here and queer. Is that what you wanted?” 

Sammy looks at him sympathetically. “Kenji, we just want you to be happy.” 

“And for you to grow a pair and ask out Ben.” She adds. 

He looks like he wants to say something, but Darius beats him to it. “Guys. Look ahead.” 

It’s a willow tree, with branches big enough for all of them to climb and sleep on. Well, not Bumpy, but the rest of them. 

“We can sleep here for the night.” Brooklyn says as she begins to climb. 

The rest of them follow her, and she lets the sleep wash over her. 

(Predictably, she dreams about Sammy.) 

  
  
  
  


They start walking right away in the morning. After eating bananas, (because this island has so many bananas for absolutely no reason) they climb down to begin walking. 

Except for Yaz, she gets to sit on Bumpy. Ben moves to walk by Kenji, who looks annoyed when Sammy gives them two thumbs up and a big grin. 

They walk in silence for the most part. Darius and Brooklyn are having their own conversation, with hushed voices and eager grins. There’s a shift in the way they act around each other, the way Brooklyn watches him fondly as Darius rants about some dinosaur, and the way Darius keeps looking at her like she’s the best thing since sliced bread. 

(Yaz would be lying if she wasn’t jealous of them.)

They reach the Mosasaur’s enclosure after another hour of walking. She can still remember the last time they were here. This is where she hurt her ankle saving Sammy and Darius. ~~Mostly Sammy.~~

“Okay guys,” Darius starts. “We can get the water from the enclosure and then return home.” 

Kenji, who’s been uncharacteristically quiet, speaks up. “My dad has a building on the island. We could go there instead. After we get the water and all that. It’s on the other side of the island, but we could get there in a day.” 

“Will you be able to get in?” Darius asks. 

Kenji nods. “I know the code.” 

“Okay. Then yeah, we can go there after we get water.” Darius says. 

She hobbles over to the pool, and leans over to drink it. 

“I can’t believe we’ve been reduced to drinking Mosasaur pee.” Brooklyn says as she gets down next to Yaz. 

Yaz instantly stops drinking. “Mosasaur pee?” 

“Yeah the Mosasaur probably has to pee. I think anyway. And they probably shut off the filtration system when everyone was evacuating.” Brooklyn says matter of factly. 

She grimaces. “That’s gross Brooklyn. Let’s talk about something else. Like how you and Darius should get it together and get together.” 

“Or we could talk about how you and Sammy should get it together and get together.” Brooklyn throws back. 

“What? That’s… that’s. No. Nope, not at all.” She sputters, and she can feel her cheeks heat up. _Damn it._

Brooklyn grins. “You should go talk to her. You two haven’t talked, like really talked in a while.”

She considers Brooklyn’s words. “Okay. I’ll go talk to her.”

Brooklyn smiles cheekily and yells, “May the gay be with you!” 

She pretends not to hear. 

  
  
  
  


Yaz thinks that Sammy is like the sun. She is bright, and beautiful, and quite possibly the best thing that has ever happened to her. (She’s won hundreds of races but none of that can compare to the thrill she gets when Sammy holds her hand.) 

Call it cliche, but when Sammy tells her everything will be okay, she believes her. Because it’s Sammy, and if she told Yaz to jump off a cliff, she’d jump in a heartbeat. 

There are a lot of great things about Sammy, her unwavering loyalty, her smile, the way she snores (which yes, is slightly creepy and weird, but if you saw you’d understand), and her ability to constantly make you feel good about yourself. 

Yaz’s favorite thing about Sammy though, is that she’s always positive, optimistic about anything. 

But right now, Sammy looks somber, and not that positive. ~~And Yaz really wants to kiss her worries away.~~ And Yaz is trying really hard to focus on what she’s saying, but she really wants to kiss Sammy. 

Sammy looks expectantly at her, and she realizes she’s staring. “Oh uh, sorry. Could you repeat that?” 

“I’m sorry Yaz. For lying, and making you feel like I never wanted our friendship. It’s just, my family needed to repay them, and I’d do anything for them, but I should’ve told you sooner, and I shouldn’t have stolen Brooklyn’s phone. I’m so sorry Yaz, and I—”

And suddenly Sammy’s not talking anymore, and she doesn’t know why. There’s a warmth and pleasure in her stomach, and she still doesn’t know why. Her body feels like it’s on fire, there’s something pressed against her mouth and suddenly she realizes it. 

She kissed Sammy. _Holy shit_ she just kissed Sammy. 

She draws back, and Sammy stares at her with wide eyes. And she does the only thing she knows how to. 

She gets up and ~~runs~~ hobbles away. 

_Holy shit she just kissed Sammy._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m a sucker for a kiss interrupting someone what can I say.


	5. Interlude: Yaz (What am I supposed to do when the best parts of me were always you)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She’s never really been good at talking about her feelings, or anything, and she’s never had to apologize for anything, except for that one time in seventh grade when she punched John Rogers for telling her she couldn’t run because it’s a boys sport. She wasn’t really that sorry though. 
> 
> She finds it surprisingly easy to apologize to Sammy. (The smile on Sammy’s face alone is enough to ease anything.)
> 
> Maybe being friends with Sammy isn’t the worst idea she’s ever had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo this chapter is a week late, and there’s really no excuse for this one other than time just got away from me. This is the longest chapter I’ve written so far though.

When Yaz is six her whole world falls apart. 

(Her dog dies.)

She spends days and days crying over her companion. She refuses to eat, or come down from her room. She just lays in her bed, staring out the window. 

A week later, her mom will buy her a puppy, who licks the tears off of her face, and maybe, just maybe, everything will be okay. 

  
  
  


Everything is not okay. 

(Yaz is eleven years old when her parents begin arguing. First, it starts off as quiet arguments during the night, when they think she’s asleep. Then the fights get louder, and louder, until she can’t take it anymore.)

She’s terrified her parents will get separated, or worse, divorced. 

And when she can’t blast music into her ears to drown out their voices, she takes up running. 

She runs and runs and runs with no destination. She runs everyday, for no reason other than she can’t be in a house where all her parents do is argue. 

She joins her school’s track team, and turns out, she’s pretty good at running. 

(Apparently she’s the best on her team, and possibly best in the city. She has real potential to go big according to her coach.) 

  
  
  


Yaz places second at the state competition at thirteen years old. She goes to Nationals because the first place winner gets E-coli. She gets third, and continues to compete across the world. At fifteen, she makes the U.S.A’s Young Olympic team. 

Her parents don’t really fight anymore, too busy helping Yaz train and prepare. It’s a bit ironic that the one thing she took up to get away from them is the thing that ends up bringing them together. 

When she goes to the first practice, she meets a girl there, Maya. She’s sixteen, from Kansas, and she won Nationals last year. (Maya’s also ridiculously pretty, and says the funniest things, and if Yaz wasn’t sure that she’s gay, she’s a hundred percent sure now.) 

Team U.S.A. ends up getting sixth overall, but she’s a part of the relay race that wins bronze, and she’s never felt prouder in her life. 

Three weeks later, to celebrate, her parents send her off to Camp Cretaceous to “have a fun week before coming back to train harder than ever”. 

(A bit ironic that her parents are the ones to send her off to her doom.)

  
  
  
  


Yaz doesn’t really like Camp Cretaceous. Well, she doesn’t have anything against it, dinosaurs are cool and all, but she’d rather be somewhere else. 

And Sammy keeps trying to be her friend, and it’s annoying her. (Really, she’s caught off guard that someone actually and genuinely seems to care about her.) 

But Sammy won’t stop pushing and pushing, and finally, Yaz snaps. She tells Sammy that she doesn’t want to be friends, because she doesn’t need friends. 

Later that night, she’ll see Sammy looking out on the balcony, so sad, and Yaz is surprised to find out that she’s sad that Sammy’s sad. 

She’s never really been good at talking about her feelings, or anything, and she’s never had to apologize for anything, except for that one time in seventh grade when she punched John Rogers for telling her she couldn’t run because it’s a boys sport. She wasn’t really that sorry though. 

She finds it surprisingly easy to apologize to Sammy. (The smile on Sammy’s face alone is enough to ease anything.)

Maybe being friends with Sammy isn’t the worst idea she’s ever had. 

  
  
  
  


When Brooklyn’s phone drops out of Sammy’s pocket, Yaz thinks that the betrayal hurts more than she expected it to. 

It hurts more than listening to her parents fight and fight. It hurts more than her dog dying. It stings, and cuts her open, and she’s not sure why the fact that Sammy might not even want to be her friend hurts so much more. 

She doesn’t know why this girl who she’s known for barely a week, this girl whose smile is blinding, this girl who seemed to get and understand her better than anyone else, is the one person who broke down her walls she spent her entire life carefully constructing. 

She doesn’t know why this hurts so much. 

She carries on, ignores Sammy, and tries not to make contact with her, because it’s all too painful.

(Later, when they’re inside the tunnels and she’s arguing with Brooklyn about Sammy’s betrayal, Brooklyn will yell “It’s just a phone Yaz, it’s fine!”

She is definitely not talking about the fact that Sammy stole Brooklyn’s phone, she’s talking about how Sammy strung her along, and used her, and made her feel really weird things. 

And if Yaz is really being honest, she’s talking about something a lot gayer, and a lot less phone-related.)

  
  
  
  


They don’t talk about it. 

None of them do. 

They gloss over it, and continue like everything’s fine, and for the most part Yaz is content. (It has nothing to do with the way Sammy smiled at her when she sat next to her, or the way she immediately holds Yaz’s hand at every sound.) 

Tensions rise, boil over, and simmer down. They find Ben. They also run out of water. Darius and Brooklyn almost admit their feelings for each other, but Kenji (all Kenji, not her) interrupts them. Ben and Kenji frustratingly make no new developments. 

And Sammy apologizes to her. She apologizes, and rambles, and Yaz thinks— well she really doesn’t think, she just kisses Sammy. 

When she pulls away, she can see the confusion in Sammy’s eyes. And Yaz really can’t take the rejection that is inevitably coming. She can’t take the hurt, the pain that comes with it. 

So she does the only thing she knows how to do— run. (It’s really more of a hobble with her hurt ankle, but she can start to walk more which is an improvement.) 

She misses the hurt that flashes over Sammy’s face, that Yaz running away seems more like a rejection than anything Sammy would say. 

  
  
  


She avoids Sammy like the plague. 

She rides on Bumpy as they walk up to Kenji’s dad’s apartment luxury building. She refuses to interact with her, because Yaz really can’t take the words “We’re just friends” she _knows_ will come out of Sammy’s mouth. 

(Yaz watches Darius and Brooklyn talk and laugh and grin, and she can’t help be jealous of them. 

She also watches Kenji smirk and tease Ben, and the latter blush madly. She’ll never admit this, but she’s kind of jealous of the ease of their flirtship.)

She sees Sammy looking lonely and sad, and there’s a pang in her heart at the knowledge that Sammy’s sad because of her. 

Yaz can’t stand a lot of things, (misogynistic boys, racist people, people who don’t believe in climate change, homophobic people among others like Snow White and those weird creepy chipmunks; Chip and Dale. And pickles. She can’t stand pickles.) but she’s surprised (but maybe she shouldn’t be) that she finds that she really can’t stand when Sammy is sad. It’s even worse when it’s her own fault Sammy’s sad. 

She really can’t be blamed for asking Sammy to sit behind her on Bumpy. They don’t talk the entire time, and it feels like an olive branch and a goodbye at the same time. 

  
  
  
  


Once they’ve all arrived at Kenji’s dad’s building, Yaz immediately takes a room card and heads up to her room. 

(She misses the look of disappointment on Sammy’s face.) 

She’s barely reached her room when Kenji barges in. 

“Shouldn’t you be rooming with Sammy?” He asks. 

She gives him a look that she hopes he reads as _shut up and leave_. Unfortunately he doesn’t understand, and stays put. “Why would I be rooming with Sammy? There’s like fifteen bedrooms in this house.”

Kenji rolls his eyes. “First of all, there’s fourteen bedrooms. Second of all, it’s a luxury apartment building not a house. And third of all, you and Sammy kissed, why wouldn’t you want to room with her?”

Yaz sighs and turns to him. “I kissed her, and it was a mistake. She only sees me as a friend.” 

Kenji laughs. “Okay you called me out on my bullshit so I’m calling you out on yours. She clearly likes you.’’

“How do you know she does?” 

“How do you know she doesn’t?” He throws back. “Look, I think you should just talk to her. You’ll never know how she feels about you until you ask.” 

His gaze softens. “Just think about, okay?” 

She _knows_ he’s right, which she hates, but there’s a part of her that still doesn’t believe that Sammy would like someone like her. There’s a part of her that whispers _why would someone as perfect as Sammy want to be with someone as insignificant as you? Your parents didn’t even love you until you proved to be slightly worth something._

Yaz goes to shut the door, but there’s someone standing in the doorway. 

“Can we talk?” Sammy asks. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Only two more to go! Have a great weekend!


	6. And you’re making me feel like maybe I am somebody

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She doesn’t say anything, rather hugs Sammy with all everything she has. She hopes it says enough. By the way Sammy hugs her back, she thinks it says enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello good people! This is the second to last chapter! I honestly can’t believe it.   
> The title of this chapter is from I don’t care by Justin Bieber and Ed sheeran. I think I spelled his last name right. I hope you like this weeks chapter.

‘‘We need to talk.’’ Sammy says, and the first thing Yaz does is slam the door in her face.

Okay so maybe slam is a strong word. It’s more like she closes the door. And then breathes deeply. (And maybe she thinks about Kenji’s advice, and maybe, just maybe, she thinks she should listen to him. Not like she’ll ever tell him that.)

Yaz steels herself before opening the door again. “Hi. Sorry about the door thing, I was just surprised to see you.”

It’s not a lie per se, but it’s not exactly the truth. There’s no way she’s going to tell Sammy that the real reason she closed a door on her face is because she’s not ready to face her. 

And yet Sammy’s in her room because she wants to talk. (She’s not good at pushing Sammy away.)

“So…..” Sammy starts out awkwardly, and for once, Sammy doesn’t seem confident, but rather out of place. There’s a pang in her chest when she realizes it’s because of her.  _ Always something you screw up  _ the small voice in her head chants. 

“You wanted to talk?” She prompts after a minute of silence. 

Sammy shakes her head. “Right. Talking,” (Sammy’s eyes flick down so quickly Yaz swears she’s just seeing things.) “So um. Yesterday.”

Sammy’s looking at her with so much emotion that she can’t place, and as she opens her mouth, Yaz braces herself for rejection. It never comes. 

Nothing comes actually, because Kenji comes running in at that exact moment. “Holy shit guys, look I found a flare gun!” He looks at them, then down at his flare gun. “Bad timing, my bad. Have fun talking.” 

He smirks at them before he turns around. “Use protection!” He calls as he leaves. 

“I’m going to murder him.” Yaz mutters, face red. 

Sammy stifles a laugh, and both of them fall silent. 

“Look,” She says right as Sammy says “I just-”

“You first.” Sammy says, grinning in spite of everything.  _ In spite of you pushing her away, only to let her in, and as soon as she makes a mistake you push her away again, let her in, then you kiss her and screw everything up and push her away again. When will the cycle ever stop?  _ The small voice sings. 

Yaz looks at Sammy, really looks at her. And for the first time in her life, she  _ wants _ . She wants to take Sammy out on a real date, and she wants to watch old dinosaur movies with Darius. She wants to ride the really crazy, adrenaline pumping rollercoasters with Kenji, and attempt to get out of appearing on Brooklyn’s YouTube channel, and to visit the new salad restaurant on 7th Street with Ben. She wants her life back. And she wants to get out of this godforsaken island. 

(All her life she has never wanted anything more.)

She doesn’t say anything, rather hugs Sammy with all everything she has. She hopes it says enough. By the way Sammy hugs her back, she thinks it says enough. 

  
  
  
  


Twenty minutes later, she finally finds the kitchen. 

(This place is a maze, and she accidentally walked in on Kenji cleaning Ben’s shoulder wounds. She’s totally teasing him about that later.

She also found a bowling alley, and an entire mini golf course. Seriously, how many rooms does this house have?)

She opens the fridge to find a bunch of food. There’s apples, kumquats, ham, a fish head, ram brains, and this foul smelling vegetable among others. Kenji’s dad has some really interesting food choices. Ram brains? How do you even get ram brains on an island full of dinosaurs? She’s actually not sure she wants to know. 

Yaz can hear Darius and Brooklyn arguing about what show to watch. Brooklyn wants to watch Grey’s Anatomy while Darius wants to watch Godzilla. She honestly can’t believe that their first big argument is about what to watch. 

(Maybe she can, because she really can’t picture them arguing about anything but the most ridiculous things.) 

She grabs an apple from the fridge and goes back to exploring. 

  
  
  
  


“Remind me again why I agreed to play mini golf with you all?” Darius asks after he hits his dark blue ball into the makeshift river. 

“Because you’re whipped for Brooklyn.” Kenji says, smirking. 

“Because you owe me after making me watch Godzilla.” Brooklyn says, hitting her pink golf ball straight into the hole, causing Kenji to whistle appreciatively. “It was just a dude in a big suit wrecking some cardboard city.” 

“That was the 1940s version,” Darius argues. “They didn’t have the same technology.” 

“Still,” Brooklyn says. “You owe me, and you’re paying off your debts.” 

Darius begrudgingly gets into the makeshift river to fish out his ball. Ben hits his gray ball through the ramp on the bear’s mouth, and it falls into the hole. 

“Damn Ben,” Kenji grins. “You’re pretty good at this.” 

Ben blushes. “Oh, it’s a pretty easy game. You just have to line up the angles, and factor in the variables of the various obstacles and—”

Kenji claps Ben on the back. “No need to be modest Ben. You’re giving Brooklyn a run for her money.” 

“Well, she’s three strokes ahead of me, so statistically speaking, if she continues to play even par, I’d have to—”

Kenji waves him off. “Math, blah blah blah. Just accept the compliment dude.”

Ben blushes again. “Thanks Kenji.” 

“Anytime dude.” 

Yaz hits her purple ball which bounces off the side, and into the small ‘sand’ trap. Sammy then hits her yellow ball into the hole. Yaz offers her a soft smile. “Nice job.” She says quietly. 

Sammy grins back at her. “Thanks!” She chirps.

Kenji sidles up to her. “So, we’re tied. There’s one hole left. What’d you say we make a bet? Whoever has the worse score has to ask their crush out.” 

Kenji grins at her, like he’s completely confident he’ll beat her. As if she’ll back down from this challenge. If there’s one thing Yaz isn’t, it’s a coward.  _ Debatable,  _ the voice in her head sings.  _ Remember how you ran away from Sammy? That was pretty cowardly.  _

Okay, well this time she won’t be a coward. “You’re on.” She says, hoping she looks intimidating. “I hope you're ready to ask Ben out.” 

“I hope you’re ready to ask Sammy out.” He throws back, grinning cheekily. 

Brooklyn starts out first, being the leader and all. She hits her pink ball straight through the windmill, and into the tube that takes the ball onto the actual green. Ben goes next, and hits his through the windmill as well, but misses the tube. Sammy’s golf ball bounces off the windmill, and Darius’ just completely misses the windmill in general, and falls into the makeshift river, again.

(He grumbles, looking kind of pissed off, but Brooklyn kisses his cheek and he’s smiling again.) 

It’s her turn, and she hits her golf ball through the windmill, into the tube which takes it down onto the green. She smirks at Kenji. “Let’s see if you can follow that up.” 

He doesn’t, his red ball bounces off the windmill and into the river. Yaz smirks, and Sammy giggles. 

(And if the sound of Sammy giggling makes her stomach twist and turn, and makes her  _ want  _ something domestic, something they’ll never have, it’s a secret Brooklyn and Kenji will never know. Lord knows they’d tease the hell out of her.)

They continue to play on, Brooklyn sinks her putt, and finishes at an impressive 2 over, Ben finishes at 5 over, Sammy finishes at 6 over, Yaz finishes at 7 over, Kenji manages to save par, and finishes at 8 over, and Darius finishes at 15 over. 

“I don’t understand how you’re so good at this.” Darius grumbles to Brooklyn.

Brooklyn smiles. “It’s a skill,” She says as she flips her hair over her shoulder. 

Kenji scoffs as Yaz rolls her eyes. Darius just looks a little starstruck. She elbows Kenji. 

“You lost,” She says, grinning. “And you know what that means.”

Kenji sighs dramatically. “Yes yes, I have to ask out Ben.” He smirks suddenly. “But you never said when.” 

Her jaw drops. “You little shit!”

“Language Yaz.” Sammy admonishes. 

Kenji sticks his tongue out at her, and she punches him. “You’re a dick.” She tells him matter of factly. 

“Yaz!” Sammy says, and Kenji laughs. 

(Later that night, they’ll all have a pillow fight with the satin pillows Kenji’s dad paid a thousand dollars each for. Ben will accidentally break one when he hits Darius with it. Down feathers will explode around them, and they’ll all dissolve in laughter, and feel like kids who haven’t been burdened by the need to survive. It will be perfect, and everything will feel perfect. 

Everything will feel blissful, like they’re not stuck on a murder island left to die. When they finally decide to go to bed, Sammy will kiss Yaz’s cheek, and this feels like the one place she’d call home.

Apparently home is where the heart is, and maybe it’s naive to say her heart is with Sammy, but she really doesn’t care, because it’s Sammy. And it’s always been different with Sammy.)

  
  
  
  
  


Yaz wakes up to helicopter noises. Which she shouldn’t. Because there aren’t any helicopters on this island, or they would have gotten off by now. So why does she hear the whirring of the helicopter blades?

Brooklyn comes bursting into her room. “Yaz! Get your butt out here, someone’s here to save us!” 

In an instant, she gets out of bed. “Seriously?” 

Brooklyn nods vigorously. “Near the forest, come on!” 

She gets out of the bed, and follows Brooklyn onto the roof, where the rest of the group is. 

Sammy greets her with a “You look great Yaz.” which causes her cheeks to burn. Kenji snickers, and she’d flip him off, but she’s too distracted by Sammy’s smile to do anything. (Her smile is like the sun, deadly, but she can’t look away until she physically has to.)

Ben breaks her daze when he says, “We need to signal to the helicopter that we’re here.”

“Ooh!” Kenji says excitedly, grabbing something out of his pocket. “I found this flare gun yesterday!” 

She looks incredulously at him. “Did you sleep with that in your pocket? How did that not go off?”

He rolls his eyes dramatically. “Of course not. I put it in my pocket this morning.”

“Fire it already Kenji.” Darius says impatiently. 

“Fine, jeez.” Kenji lifts the flare gun in the air, and fires it near the helicopter. 

The helicopter turns around, facing the ‘luxury apartment’ they are standing on. They all began to jump up, waving their arms, like they did all those weeks ago near the beach. Except this time, the helicopter seems to see them. It flies forward, and seems to hover over their building. 

Ben squints. “Is that Dave and Roxy?”

  
  
  



	7. Alls well that ends well to end up with you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dave chuckles. “It’s okay. All that matters is that you’re safe. The rest is confetti.” 
> 
> The word family comes to mind as Brooklyn says excitedly “You watch that show too?” and Kenji whistles “Damn Dave, I didn’t know you were that hip.” and Darius says dryly “Language Kenji.” to which Sammy replies “That’s my line!” 
> 
> Her parents sent her to Camp Cretaceous to relax and have fun before training for the Young Olympics and Nationals, and through running from dinosaurs, beach trips, bananas and pillow fights, she got a family instead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh here we are. It’s the final chapter. It’s been I think two months since I first started this, thinking it’d be a one shot. I just want to say thank you to everyone who has left a comment and/or a kudos. I appreciate every single one of you. This wouldn’t be possible without you all. 
> 
> A couple quick notes: I decided that they all live in New York which is very unrealistic, but that’s what I decided. 
> 
> There’s flashbacks in this, and the flashbacks are in italics and parentheses. All the flashbacks that occur are from the helicopter ride.

Yaz is running. 

She’s sprinting through Central Park, passing an elderly woman, nearly bumps into a man with a stroller, and hops over a Yorkie. The man with the stroller definitely gave her a dirty look, but right now, she really doesn’t care because she’s running through Central Park. _She’s running through Central Park._

She’s finally running without her ankle hurting, and honestly she’s forgotten what it feels like. She feels free, and happy, and there is nothing that can change that. 

As Yaz rounds the South Lawn with a smile stuck to her face, she sees someone standing triumphantly near Turtle Pond. The smile drops from her face. 

“There is no way you beat me,” She says, crossing her arms. “You must have cheated.” 

Kenji gasps, putting his hand over his chest. “Me? Cheating? Never.” 

She rolls her eyes. “Kenji, I was selected to be on the USA Young Olympics team. You haven’t ran since your fourth grade track stint. There’s no way you could have fairly won this race.” 

“You wound me.” He says, grinning. “Where are the others?” 

“Last I saw, Sammy was talking to some old man giving bread to ducks, Ben stopped to nerd out about some foliage, and who knows where Darius and Brooklyn are.” She counts off. 

She’s pretty sure Kenji isn’t even listening though, because he’s staring at his phone (His lockscreen is a picture of him and Ben, and she’s teased him relentlessly about it. Not that she’s any better, her homescreen is a picture of Sammy, but Brooklyn is in the background so that makes it better right?) and laughing, so she assumes he’s texting Ben. 

“You know,” She says knowingly. “You should just ask him out.”

He immediately looks up at her. “What? Why would I do that?” 

“He’s basically in love with you. There’s no way he’d say no.” 

“Who’s basically in love with Kenji?” Ben asks from behind Yaz. 

_Oh shit,_ she thinks as Kenji’s eyebrows shoot up, and he pales. Yaz takes this as her cue to leave. “You know what? I think I hear Sammy calling for me. You kids have fun!” 

Kenji glares at her as she makes her exit, but hopefully this will finally help Kenji get the courage to ask Ben out. Lord knows he needs it.

  
  
  
  
  
  


_(“Wait hold up,” Brooklyn says after Dave and Roxie have just finished telling them how they got to the island and saving their butts. “You guys stole a helicopter to come rescue us?”_

_“That’s freaking badass!” Kenji says excitedly._

_Dave grins. “Thanks dude!” as Sammy admonishes “Language Kenji.”_

_“Once we got to the mainland, we asked our higher ups for a team to come with us and rescue you guys. They refused, believing you were dead, so we took matters into our own hands.” Roxie says, turning the helicopter to the right. “So we stole a helicopter.”_

_“So you stole a helicopter.” Kenji parrots, still in awe._

_“Won’t you guys get fired? Or in like a bunch of trouble?” Yaz asks, because as glad as she is that they’re not stuck on Dinosaur Murder Island, she doesn’t want Dave and Roxie to get fired, or put in jail or anything._

_“We’ll probably get fined and fired.” Dave remarks matter-of-factly._

_“What?!” Ben exclaims as Sammy says “I don’t want you guys to get fired or fined.”_

_Dave chuckles. “It’s okay. All that matters is that you’re safe. The rest is confetti.”_

_The word family comes to mind as Brooklyn says excitedly “You watch that show too?” and Kenji whistles “Damn Dave, I didn’t know you were that hip.” and Darius says dryly “Language Kenji.” to which Sammy replies “That’s my line!”_

_Her parents sent her to Camp Cretaceous to relax and have fun before training for the Young Olympics and Nationals, and through running from dinosaurs, beach trips, bananas and pillow fights, she got a family instead.)_

  
  
  
  


“Oh my god Kenji!” Brooklyn exclaims. “Front row seats to the next Nets game?” 

Kenji grins. “My dad had two extra seats, so you can bring someone else with you.” 

As Brooklyn and Kenji nerd out about basketball, Yaz surveys the living room. The rest of Brooklyn’s opened presents lay around her (Ben had gotten her a new selfie stick, Sammy had gotten her this really cool pink leather jacket with Brooklyn etched on the back, and Yaz had gotten her some self defense lessons. Look, they’re teenage girls living in New York City, they need to learn how to protect themselves.), she hasn’t opened up Darius’ yet. A Nickelodeon Kids Choice award sits near a plaque Brooklyn got for having over a million subscribers. A banner that says ‘Happy Sixteenth Birthday Brooklyn!’ hangs from the TV. 

Darius nervously hands Brooklyn his present. “Here. It’s um… from me. Obviously.’’ He laughs awkwardly. 

Brooklyn opens his gift, and stares at it wordlessly. Darius rubs the back of his neck. “It’s uh… the complete second season of Grey’s Anatomy. You said it was your favorite season, and I uh, I was thinking, if you wanted to, we could watch it together sometime. We just got a new TV, and we could watch it on there, if you wanted to of course.” 

Brooklyn just stares at him, and Yaz is pretty sure the two of them have completley forgot about the rest of them. “Never mind, it was a stupid idea anyway.” Darius says quickly, which seems to shake Brooklyn out of her stupor. 

“No!” Brooklyn shouts, causing Kenji to snicker. “Thank you Darius.” She adds softly. 

“It’s a date.” Darius says, then he turns beet red and backtracks. “Uh. I mean like a calendar date not like a date date. Unless you want it to be, then of course it can be. Not saying I’m like in love with you, or anything. Not that you’re not lovable, I mean, of course you are, but that’s not what I meant—”

Brooklyn shuts up his rambling with a kiss. “It’s a date.” She says after she pulls away. 

“Yeah,” Darius breathes out. “Yeah, okay.” 

Kenji slow claps. “Thank god you finally got together. I thought we’d be ancient by the time you two finally got your acts together.” 

Yaz snickers as Brooklyn flips him off. “And how are you and Ben coming along?” She asks sweetly. 

Kenji looks around frantically to see if Ben heard that. “Brooklyn!” He hisses. “He could hear you!”

Brooklyn laughs. “Come on guys. Let’s go find a movie to watch.”

Yaz smirks. “And maybe Kenji can also find the courage to ask Ben out.” 

Kenji whips around to glare at her. “Shhhh!” 

  
  
  
  
  


_(The entire helicopter ride, Sammy’s been oddly quiet. Usually she’s chatty, but for some reason, she hasn’t said much outside of the occasional “Language Kenji.”. It’s weird, and if Sammy’s feeling bad about something, Yaz should confort her. Because they’re friends, and that’s what friends do._

_“Hey,” She says, nudging Sammy. “Are you okay?”_

_“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” Sammy says, but she doesn’t sound fine, and Yaz likes to think she’s at least a little bit in tune with Sammy’s emotions._

_Yaz shrugs. “I dunno, you tell me.”_

_Sammy sighs. “It’s my family.”_

_Well. Yaz isn’t really an expert on family, seeing as her parents argued all the time, and she literally took up running to get away from that. “Oh.” She says, which is like the worst answer ever._

_Sammy laughs humorlessly. “Yeah oh. It’s just… I was sent here to spy and get information to pay off my parents debt. But I’m sure everyone thinks I’m dead, and I don’t know what’s happened to them. I’m really worried about them.”_

_Yaz is about to say something comforting, probably something like ‘I’m sorry,’ or ‘If your parents are anything like you, then I’m sure they’ve already figured some way to pay off their debts.’ Instead, all she says is “You’re amazing.”_

_Honestly her mouth has a mind of its own._

_She’s lucky that everyone besides Roxie is asleep, because she doesn't want to endure everyone else’s teasing, and she doubts Roxie will tease her. That much, at least._

_Sammy blushes. “Sorry.” She immediately says._

_“For what?” Sammy asks._

_“I’m not sure,” Yaz replies honestly. “It just doesn’t really have to do with what we’re talking about.”_

_“Well,” Sammy says, smiling. “You’re pretty amazing yourself.”_

_Now it’s her own turn to blush. “I like you.” She blurts out, and quickly slaps her hand over her mouth._

_Shit, shit, shit. Now she’s screwed everything up. Sammy’s going to laugh at her, and tell her that she’s read all the signs wrong, because Sammy’s completley straight as an arrow._

_Instead, Sammy’s grin just grows wider. “Yaz, I like you too.”_

_“Like in a I-want-to-go-on-a-date-with-you way.” Yaz explains, because she’s been down this road, and Sammy should know about this, before Yaz spontaneously combusts from holding this crush in._

_“Great, let’s go then.”_

_She’s not sure if she heard Sammy correctly. “Like on a date?”_

_“Yes on a date.”_

_“Oh.”_

_Sammy laces their hands together. “There’s a new Mediterranean place on 16th Street. We could go there.”_

_“Wherever you want to go.” Yaz replies, a smile etched on her face._

_She’s going on a date with Sammy. She’s actually going on a date with Sammy._

_Finally.)_

  
  
  
  


The greatest survivors to survive group chat

**Kenji the rich pining idiot**

YAZ

**Yaz a.k.a runner extraordinaire**

What do you want

**Kenji the rich pining idiot**

BEN ASKED ME OUT

**Yaz a.k.a runner extraordinaire**

I can’t believe you didn’t make the first move

That’s disappointing 

**Kenji the rich pining idiot**

THATS NOT THE POINT

also I’m not the one who kissed my crush

and then RAN AWAY

**Yaz a.k.a runner extraordinaire**

We don’t talk about that

And I hobbled away so

Anyway good for you and Ben

I’m marginally happy for you two

**Kenji the rich pining idiot**

So you can stop teasing me now

**Yaz a.k.a runner extraordinaire**

Oh hell no

You didn’t even ask Ben out

He did

That’s prime teasing material

**Brooklyn is a annoying superstar**

You guys do realize you’re texting on 

the group chat right? 

**Kenji the rich pining idiot**

Oh shit

**Yaz a.k.a runner extradionaire**

Oops

**Sammy the literal angel**

You guys, it’s almost eleven

We all have school tomorrow

Go to bed

**Kenji the rich pining idiot**

Yes ma’am

  
  
  


Private chat between Kenji the rich pining idiot and Yaz a.k.a runner extraordinaire 

**Kenji the rich pining idiot**

You have your first date with Sammy tomorrow

right?

**Yaz a.k.a runner extraordinaire**

Yes

Why

**Kenji the rich pining idiot**

Use protection

**Yaz a.k.a runner extraordinaire**

You little shit

Oh Yaz is definitely going to kill Kenji. 


End file.
